Ode to a Nurse by Ann J. Sam

This is a poem we found among mom's writings. She wrote it about someone else, but I think it ably describes Ann J. Sam, RN.

It also describes quite well the nurses at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital 5th Floor East and 8th Floor East and those at Superior Woods in Ypsilanti Township who cared for her those last three months.

Ode to a Nurse


She is a symbol in her immaculate white,
Softly treading through the stillness of the night,
Quick to cope with a sudden emergency,
She is that wonderful nurse who is on duty;
Day in and day out the constant rounds she will make
Weary, tired, the patient, she does not forsake,
Gently caressing the crying, frightened child,
Tenderly caring for the bedridden senile;
She is the nurse, the beautiful Angel in white.
She is like a star, shinning ever so bright,
Many tears, and smiles along the way she has seen,
But she will stand up, ‘ever like a great Queen.
- A. J. Sam

A Celebration of Mom's Life - From the Service for Ann J. Sam - March 22, 2010

Welcome, Spring

 - by Ann J. Sam

Winter days have slowly gone
Leaving the snows behind,
The blustering cold is done
And signs of Spring I find;

The robins, hopping, chirping
Boldly facing the chill
Of the new Spring days lurking
With a touch of winter still;

But-bright is the sun shining
Blue are the skies above,
Flowers are bravely blooming
Giving Spring a gentle shove;

Soon the grasses will be green
And the trees with their new leaves,
These signs of Spring will be seen
For winter, we do not grieve;

So, blow gently the sighing winds
Come softly the soothing rains,
Upon the earth you will descend
Bringing welcome to Spring again.

***
Our mother, Ann Joan Kon Sam, gave us life and more than life.


She gave us a love for life, a respect for life, the wisdom to celebrate life.

She gave us a love for those things that enhance and celebrate life: art, music, poetry, reading, writing.

She gave us a love for nature and animals, a desire to protect and preserve and value nature and all life.

She gave us a love for people, a deep respect for them, and a need to live a life of service above ourselves.

She gave us the joy to laugh, to be playful, to have a healthy sense of humor.

She gave us a love for good food, for cooking, for gardening, for food as a way to bring friends and family together.

She gave us the courage to try new things, to recover from falls, to take responsibility, to be adult, to journey out, to learn, to grow, to pioneer.

She was the first in her family to complete high school, to get a professional job through her nursing education.

We were among the first to graduate from college, to get advanced degrees, to become teachers ourselves.

She did not have the most loving of-parents, nor did she have a secure childhood.

She gave us a loving parent and a secure childhood, and taught us to be parents and give the same to our children.

In her youth, she remembered those few who were kind and generous, and she become kind and generous, and she expected that we would be kind and generous.

Above all, she loved. With passion and commitment she loved. With forgiveness and gratitude she loved. With humor and generosity she loved.

So she taught us to live our lives with love, with an ethic of service, with playfulness and with commitment and with faith.

With Meister Eckhart she would agree, "If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough."

We say, Thank you mom, for the gift of life and how to live it, and most of all for the gift of you.


Hands
(For my Mother, Ann Joan Sam)

Hands, wonderful tools,
full of grasping, plucking,
strumming, stroking,
full of fists,
made for numbering,
made for thumbing.

Like all wonders, hands must
wither, becoming sculpture
of arthritis, blue-veined
deltas of decay.

My mother's hands once
held me, fed me,
cleaned me from the mess
of diapers, soothed and bound
my wounds and bruises.

My mother's hands
held a book, stroked
a punning pen, caressed
the life around her,

pale transparent flesh
over the green/blue tributaries
of her history.

Near her end, she said, "I guess it's the end of the story.... Time to write another story."

Mom, you wrote an amazing story with your life. We will miss you as you go on to write your next story.

Mom